The late bombings in Oslo left a considerable imprint on all social and political interactions within the Norwegian society, including elections (Photo:Reuters)
In Oslo and other cities politicians stood side-by-side with their opponents, refraining from attacks and partisan comments that usually mark the campaign season.
Campaigning had already been delayed by three weeks because of rightwing extremist Anders Behring Breivik's July 22 attacks that killed 77 people.
"We have fortunately never before had to begin an election campaign in such an atmosphere," conservative Oslo politician Arne Hjeltnes said as he launched the campaign event at noon (1000 GMT).
"There is reason to expect this election campaign to be characterised by dignity (and) there is reason to expect many extra people to participate .. and to show up at the polls in September," he said.
Two recent opinion polls have indicated that as many as 81 percent of Norwegians could vote on September 12, compared to the 61.2 percent of eligible voters who cast their ballots in the last local elections in 2007.
On July 22, Behring Breivik, 32, set off a car bomb outside government offices in Oslo, killing eight people, before going on a shooting spree on the nearby island of Utoeya where the ruling Labour Party's youth wing was hosting a summer camp, killing another 69, many of them teenagers.
He has confessed to both attacks, saying that targeting Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's Labour Party was part of a "crusade" to halt a "Muslim invasion" and multiculturalism in Europe.
Following the attacks it was inconceivable for the parties to launch into their usually partisan campaigning ahead of the September 12 vote and everyone agreed to wait.
Stoltenberg himself has said he will refrain from campaigning until after all the victims have been buried and the ceremonies of a national day of mourning on August 21 have been completed.
The prime minister has been widely hailed for his handling of the crisis and has seen support for his party balloon, with two new polls published Saturday confirming the trend, both handing the Labour Party around 35 percent of voter support at a national level.
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